grARTitude

The art on this site began as birthday gifts for my sister and a friend. At first, just a playful collage of colorful dots and sewn thread. Next, a dance of dots and thread depicting a specific piece of music ("Happy Birthday"). Having had so much fun making these, I made more for my friend's Notes In Motion dance company auction, with each piece based on music honoring the auction's theme ("I Will" from the Beatles White Album in honor of the White Night auction theme and the Fleet Foxes' "White Winter Hymnal" in honor of the Winter White auction theme the following year). Both sold. From there, a former colleague saw my work on Facebook and commissioned a piece based on one of her favorite pieces of music (Bonnie Raitt's "Since I Fell For You"). Her response was, "It's like you framed joy." I was ecstatic. And on fire. One day I woke up in the middle of the night with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my artistic inspiration and motivation, something I hadn't experienced in a while and was craving. A stream of people who have inspired me over the years for their artistry, craft, or way of showing up in life flashed through my mind and I suddenly wanted to make art for them to show my gratitude for their impact on me and to help keep me in a motivated, creative space. The next morning I contacted each of them, some distant connections, and asked them what their favorite piece of music was, explaining it was for a personal gratitude project I was working on. And that was it, I had committed myself. grARTitude was born.

 

Please check out the gallery to see who has been inspiring me (and who may inspire you too). If you want to show your gratitude for someone, would like a piece of art depicting your favorite music or simply need a great gift for a birthday or special occasion as I did when I started this project, I welcome commissions. Making art for people is a great motivator and a source of joy for me.

 

With grARTtitude,

Julie